A collection of humorous, touching, and always thought provoking articles from various sources.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Mother’s Love

A very special
Atlanta Braves’ baseball home opener on April 8, 1974. It was a night game
against the Dodgers and it was a complete sellout. Williams looked around to
see that, seated immediately behind him was singer Pearl Bailey. Up at the
plate: the immortal Henry Aaron. On the line: Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career
home runs. Aaron had tied the record and tonight he was aiming to break it.

Understand that
this was nearly 40 years ago. An African‑American player was about to topple
the great Babe Ruth--and a lot of people in the country didn’t like it. Aaron
got a lot of mail that year--more than 930,000 letters in all, far more than
any other person in the country. Most were fan letters--but about 100,000 of
them were hate letters, some containing death threats.

Williams says he
was on the edge of his seat when Dodgers pitcher Al Downing hurled the ball
toward the plate. Aaron swung and connected. The crack of his bat echoed
through the stands. The ball was gone. Home run. Babe Ruth’s record was
shattered. The ballpark went nuts. “As Aaron rounded second base,” says
Williams, “a couple of teenagers--both white--jumped over the retaining wall
and ran onto the field, chasing Aaron. For a moment, no one knew what they had
in mind, but then it became clear: they were celebrating and cheering Aaron on.
As Aaron crossed the plate, the dugout emptied as the Braves streamed onto the
field to surround him, cheering and whooping it up. But amid all those ballplayers
around Aaron was a short, sixty-eight‑year‑old black woman. She latched onto
Aaron and wouldn’t let go of him.

“Henry Aaron
turned and said to her, ‘Mom! What are you doing here?’ “‘Baby,’ said the
mother of the new home‑run king, ‘if they’re gonna get you,’ (thinking of the
death threats Aaron had received) ‘they’ve gotta get me first!’”That is love only a mother could have for her
child.